CTUG Regular Executive Board Meeting

September 12, 2003 - Minutes

Attendees:

Javid Quadri
Randall Becker
Dick Bird
Pio Gomes
Philippe Olivieri
Alvin Wong

Regrets:

Marlon Henry

Meeting Duration:

15:50pm – 8:00pm

Meeting Location:

Armadillo’s Texas Grill

Old Business:

1. Previous meeting approval moved by Dick; seconded by Alvin
2. CaNUC update: nothing to report
3. Non-Disclosure Agreements
   • Discuss any objections to the NDA. Approve if none, and start signing process.
   • Marlon, by proxy, indicated that the last sentence of paragraph 4 should be incorporated into paragraph 5. This was discussed and not adopted.
   • Marlon, by proxy, indicated that the last sentence of paragraph 3 should be removed as too harsh. This was discussed and not adopted.
   • Action Item from Previous Meeting: Dick asked for a correction on the name of HP on the CTUG Non-Disclosure Agreement. DONE
   • NDA was approved.
   • ACTION ITEM: For future CTUG correspondence, the address should reflect that of the accountant, rather than HP.
   • ACTION ITEM: Board Members to return signed copy to Javid for filing.
4.  Financials
   • Accountant has been selected: Sims and Company, 346 Forman Avenue, Toronto, Ont. Contact: Steve Sims 416-481-9101x22.
   • ACTION ITEM: Alvin to have cheques reprinted without addresses.
     • Nearly Complete: But questionable charges require Alvin to follow up.
   • ACTION ITEM: Alvin to work with accountant to finalize books and complete outstanding items
   • DEFERRED ACTION ITEM: Address change to be done to CTUG Inc. c/o Dick Bird, HP Canada, 675 Cochrane Dr., Markham Ontario, L3R 0Y7.
     • Status: Defer to the accountant
   • DEFERRED ACTION ITEM: Alvin to contact Visa and Amex to change contact information.
     • Status: Alvin will verify by June 14th 2003
   • DEFERRED ACTION ITEM: Alvin to change address during business registration/GST processing.
     • Status: Defer to the accountant
5. General Liability Insurance for board members
   • ACTION ITEM: Javid to submit an application form for a quote
   • ACTION ITEM: Randy to provide Javid with additional contact numbers for additional quotes.
6. Wrap-up/Post-Mortem from Spring Conference
   • ACTION ITEM: Alvin to provide an attendees summary. DONE
7. List-Server Decision
   • DEFERRED ACTION ITEM: Javid and Randy to follow up. Non-critical. To be looked at later. The current procedure works fine. When Javid and Randy can get together, they will work out something. A change has been made to the CanHost list server support.
   • DEFERRED ACTION ITEM: As time permits, investigate the CanHost changes.
   • Joseph indicated that there were other options to what CanHost provides, including ASP functions that could serve as a members area. He has indicated a willingness to help with that.
   • ACTION ITEM: Dick and Angelo to try to get the 92 names from that area from Francois. To be followed up by the June Tech Session subcommittee. DONE
8. Corporate Sponsorship
   • Proposal for discussion from Javid:
     • Dick suggested that a clause should be inserted to exclude HP from this initiative
     • Alvin noted that there were still some references to ‘membership’.
     • Randy suggested that a clause should be inserted indicating that CTUG has the right of refusal for a sponsorship.
     • Marlon noted, by proxy, that the wording relating to the last year’s booths should be reworded.
     • Randy suggested that in lieu of a booth that a “Gold” membership would include a certain number of registrations to the annual conference. Status: Done
     • Marlon suggested that the name be a corporate SPONSOR rather than a corporate MEMBER to avoid the notion that may be introduced of a membership fee. Status: Done
     • Action Item: Javid to revise and resubmit.
9. Proposal for honoraria:
   • Philippe and Pio discussed and arrived at the following honoraria for the last year’s board: $500 Gift Certificate to Best Buy. The following board members are eligible for this honorarium:
     • Javid Quadri
     • Randall Becker
     • Joseph Iuso
     • Marlon Henry
     • Alvin Wong
     • Christian Berndt
   • ACTION ITEM: Alvin to purchase the honoraria and deliver to the eligible parties.
10. Access to Metro Hall Facilities
    • Javid and Philippe to explore access to Metro Hall facilities
    • Javid stated that Councilor Sandra Bussin had given verbal sponsorship, which is a requirement for usage of these facilities.
    • ACTION ITEM: Javid to finalize the access and arrange for the use of the facilities for the November technical session.

New Business

1. Topic for Next Technical Session
   • A decision needs to be made on the topic for the next technical session. Things to consider for the session are: availability of speakers, portability to Montreal, popularity of topic, etc.
   • We are looking at holding the technical session towards the end of November in Toronto and Montreal.
   • Some potential topics are:
     • OSS primer
     • ITUG Conference Mini-Review
     • Migration Issues - Customers speak out about their solutions to
     • Being entrepreneurial: Tools and Help available when creating an NonStop product
   • ACTION ITEM: Dick, Randall and Philippe to form a subcommittee to arrive at a topic and provide speakers that can make presentations in Toronto and Montreal
2. Location for next Spring Conference
   • A decision on whether we are going to return to St. Andrew's for the 2004 spring conference. This requires a viable alternative that would give us increased space for presentations and for vendor booths. I have asked Pio to look into this for us.
   • ACTION ITEM: Javid and Pio to decide on a venue
3. Ratification of ITUG Regional Agreement
   • We need to discuss objections to signing the agreement, now that there is no obligation to share our member list with ITUG. As an incentive to signing the agreement, ITUG will give a 50% discount to the CTUG designated attendee to the ITUG conference.
   • Marlon expressed unease with sentence 5 of Section B relating to the ITUG discount was inappropriate and should be taken out. This was discussed and rejected.
   • Javid expressed concern regarding a clause in Section D indicating that upon termination, the REGION will turn over the membership list to ITUG. Randy stated that this would be contrary to the laws of Canada and could not be complied with. The board voted to remove this clause from the agreement.
   • The board ratified the agreement, subject to the removal of the aforementioned clause in Section D.
   • ACTION ITEM: Javid to communicate with ITUG regarding the CTUG decision.
4. Duties
   • Web master - hand over to Randall Becker – in progress
   • Interim Replacement for Yann - Marlon Henry
5. CTUG Representation at ITUG
   • § Dick proposed that CTUG cover the cost of the president’s expenses in attending ITUG. Consensus was that this was an appropriate expenditure for the board. Javid suggested that each year, the President and Director of Finance determine the viability of the costs with respect to the financial health of CTUG. The motion was passed unanimously with two abstentions.
   • Randall was asked to act as the official CTUG representative for ITUG. Among the things that have been requested of Randall during his attendance at ITUG are:
     • Ensure vendors are coming to the CTUG conference
     • Determine if there are any speakers that would be good as presenters at a technical session or key notes at the conference and see if we can interest them in presenting for us.
     • Determine if there are any topics that would be of particular interest to our members. We can use them in future sessions.
     • Make contact with members from Montreal, and determine if they have any issues or questions regarding our renewed presence in Montreal
     • Determine the interest level in Alberta. (Not that we necessarily will do anything about it at this time, being busy with Montreal, but it may be something where we get contacts and gauge interest for future reference.)
     • Generally see what other things are around that will help maintain and grow the organisation.
6. Meeting Adjourned
   • Adjourned at 7:55PM

Minutes taken by: Javid Quadri